Editing Cthulhu (section)

==Publication history==
The short story that first mentions Cthulhu, "The Call of Cthulhu", was published in ''[[Weird Tales]]'' in 1928, and established the character as a malevolent entity, hibernating within [[R'lyeh]], an underwater city in the [[Pacific Ocean|South Pacific]]. The imprisoned Cthulhu is apparently the source of constant subconscious anxiety for all mankind, and is also the object of worship, both by many human cults (including some within [[New Zealand]], [[Greenland]], [[Louisiana]], and the [[List of mountains in China|Chinese mountains]]) and by other Lovecraftian monsters (called [[Deep Ones]]<ref name="innsmouth">[[s:The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]</ref> and [[Mi-Go]]<ref name="darkness">[[s:The Whisperer in Darkness]]</ref>). The short story asserts the premise that, while currently trapped, Cthulhu will eventually return. His worshippers chant "''Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn''{{-"}} ("In his house at ''R'lyeh'', dead Cthulhu waits dreaming").<ref name="call" />

[[File:H. P. Lovecraft in Florida, June 1934.png|thumb|upright|left|alt=A photo of H. P. Lovecraft, facing right|H. P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu's creator]]

Lovecraft conceived a detailed genealogy for Cthulhu (published as "Letter 617" in ''[[Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft IV (1932–1934)|Selected Letters]]'')<ref name="Lovecraft 1967 Letter 617"/> and made the character a central reference in his works.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Angell | first = George Gammell | editor-last = Price | editor-first = Robert M. | title = Cthulhu Elsewhere in Lovecraft | journal = Crypt of Cthulhu | issue = 9 |pages=13–15 | year = 1982 | issn = 1077-8179}}</ref> The short story "[[The Dunwich Horror]]" (1928)<ref name="dunwich">[[s:The Dunwich Horror]]</ref> refers to Cthulhu, while "[[The Whisperer in Darkness]]" (1930) hints that one of his characters knows the creature's origins ("I learned whence Cthulhu first came, and why half the great temporary stars of history had flared forth.")<ref name="darkness"/> The 1931 [[novella]] ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' refers to the "star-spawn of Cthulhu", who warred with another race called the [[Elder Thing]]s before the dawn of man.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.asp| last= Lovecraft |first=H. P. |title= At the Mountains of Madness |page=66 |access-date=2011-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606025820/http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.asp |archive-date= 2011-06-06 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[August Derleth]], a correspondent of Lovecraft's, used the creature's name to identify the system of lore employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors, the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]. In 1937, Derleth wrote the short story "The Return of Hastur", and proposed two groups of opposed cosmic entities:

{{quote| the Old or Ancient Ones, the ''[[Elder God (Cthulhu Mythos)|Elder Gods]]'', of ''cosmic good'', and those of ''cosmic evil'', bearing many names, and themselves of different groups, as if associated with the elements and yet transcending them: for there are the Water Beings, hidden in the depths; those of Air that are the primal lurkers beyond time; those of Earth, horrible animate survivors of distant eons.<ref name= Derleth>{{cite book| first= August| last= Derleth| chapter= The Return of Hastur| title= The Hastur Cycle| editor-first= Robert M. |editor-last= Price}}</ref>{{rp|256}}}}

According to Derleth's scheme, "Great Cthulhu is one of the Water Elementals" and was engaged in an age-old arch-rivalry with a designated air elemental, [[Hastur|Hastur the Unspeakable]], described as Cthulhu's "half-brother."<ref name= Derleth />{{rp|256, 266}} Based on this framework, Derleth wrote a series of short stories published in ''Weird Tales'' (1944–1952) and collected as ''[[The Trail of Cthulhu]]'', depicting the struggle of a Dr. Laban Shrewsbury and his associates against Cthulhu and his minions. In addition, Cthulhu is referenced in Derleth's 1945 novel ''[[The Lurker at the Threshold]]'' published by [[Arkham House]]. The novel can also be found in ''[[The Watchers Out of Time and Others]]'', a collection of stories from Derleth's interpretations of Lovecraftian Mythos published by Arkham House in 1974.

Derleth's interpretations have been criticized by Lovecraft enthusiast [[Michel Houellebecq]], among others. Houellebecq's ''[[H.&nbsp;P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life]]'' (2005) decries Derleth for attempting to reshape Lovecraft's strictly amoral continuity into a stereotypical conflict between forces of objective good and evil.<ref>{{cite book| last= Bloch| first= Robert| chapter= Heritage of Horror| title= The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre}}</ref>

In [[John Glasby]]'s "A Shadow from the Aeons", Cthulhu is seen by the narrator roaming the riverbank near Dominic Waldron's castle, and roaring.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Brooding City and Other Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos | last=Glasby | first=John S. | publisher=Ramble House | date=2015-08-09}}</ref>

The character's influence also extended into gaming literature; games company [[TSR, Inc.|TSR]] included an entire chapter on the Cthulhu mythos (including character statistics) in the first printing of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' sourcebook ''[[Deities & Demigods]]'' (1980). TSR, however, were unaware that [[Arkham House]], which asserted copyright on almost all Lovecraft literature, had already licensed the Cthulhu property to game company [[Chaosium]]. Although Chaosium stipulated that TSR could continue to use the material if each future edition featured a published credit to Chaosium, TSR refused and the material was removed from all subsequent editions.<ref name="acaeum">{{cite web | url = http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/deities.html | title = Deities & Demigods, Legends & Lore | work = The Acaeum | access-date = 2010-05-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100903180904/http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/deities.html | archive-date = 2010-09-03 | url-status = live }}</ref>